The Age of the Imperial Guptas c9.75

c9.75

The very high reputation which Gupta Schools of Art enjoy, at the present day, depends much more on architectural and artistic decorative motifs employed by them. One of the most important evolutions in decorative motifs is the stylization of the *caitya*-window, a subject which has not received the amount of attention which it deserves. The high pointed opening in the upper part of the facades of *caitya-gharas* or Buddhist cathedral-halls lost their grandeur early in the Gupta period. A comparison of the facade of the *caitya*-halls at Karla and Bhaja, in the Poona district with those at Nasik and Kanheri will prove that the great horse-shoe-shaped window was fast diminishing in size.¹ From the middle second century B.C., the shape of the *caitya*-window became a favourite design for the decoration of the solid walls of the *Caitya*-halls and door-lintels.² The increase in the side wings of the design is apparent in the Gupta period. In actual *Caitya*-halls we find it late in the 6th century in the facade of Cave No.19 at Ajanta.³ As an architectural motif the increase in the size of the side wings made it possible to use it in diverse ways. Another innovation was the conversion of the *Caitya*-window into a regular trefoil arch as in the facade of the later Viśvakarmā-at Ellora.⁴ But the evolution of the stylized *Caitya*-windows from the 6th to the 12th century A.D., is beyond the scope of this enquiry.